Archers thread #166: Choppy waters in Ambridge! Look out for the red flags and discuss The Archers here.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Thank you, @PseudoBadger, for kicking off this long, long series of Archers threads.

All views on The Archers welcome here! New blood welcomed, and of course we are always delighted to welcome back former or occasional listeners/posters. We don't all agree on all points, although we do mostly try to be civil about it. Most of us are posting tongue in cheek a lot of the time, so don't worry about revealing that you'd love to be married to Harrison, or other unusual views.

Spoilers: not on this thread, please! We don't wait for the omnibus to discuss the weeknight episodes, but we do try our best to avoid cross-contamination from www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/4636789-the-archers-spoilers-thread-7-cant-wait-for-702pm-join-us-here, where spoilers are positively welcomed!

For newer listeners, lurkers or those who just have no idea what we're talking about, @DadDadDad has created this useful thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/3557323-For-Archers-fans-a-guide-to-acronyms-on-the-long-running-discussion-threads-and-any-other-meta-thread-questions-you-may-have - BOOP point for him! (See thread for explanation.)

Another thread started in great haste, mid-packing! Over to you.

I think the mystery of Rochelle is likely to be something quite prosaic, not involving murder or such. Parental estrangement sounds much more likely. I also think they're still going to play the long game with it and Joy and Mick will make up this time without us finding out anything more about Rochelle. It will be put on the back burner and we'll have to wait much longer to find out what's up. This will just be one more step in ramping it up; I feel as though maybe this is the first time it's really striking the average listener (rather than frequenter of these threads) that something is not right.

I am new to listening properly (I've dipped in and out over the years, so I'm aware of Alice's alcoholism, Rob being a coercive controlling monster, Nigel falling off the roof, etc). So I'm still working out who's who in the current iteration. However, I dislike Harrison hugely and I've only been listening a fortnight!

I am not so sure.

For me Harrison made a “love conquers all” decision.

The consequences of that decision have been brushed aside a bit. Now though they are rushing to the surface - his desire for fatherhood clashing hugely with his love for Fallon.

I think they are doing an ok job of it.

Arf, @moggerhanger - excellent timing. For me, Harrison has gone from dull-and-dim-but-worthy to full on LTB pretty much overnight. Well, there was the brief period of lazy and useless, of course ...

If they make Fallon "change her mind" and reproduce, against her consistent position, I shall be quite cross.

The thing I fear is that when the reason Fallon is so unhappy is revealed to Jolene, she will be on Harrison's side about the couple having a baby and will moi darlin Fallon into submission.

Thank you all. I'm sorry if I overstepped to make a radio soap discussion personal. It just touched a nerve a bit.

Can I add - I love that the SW have held Fallon firm.

It is unconventional to have a (great) female character developed in that way.

Harrison is grieving hope in my opinion.

He is only now realising and accepting that Fallon knows her own mind and what that means for him and fatherhood.

No, not at all. I think we’d all want to know if our discussion was making it dffcult for someone. And you’re not the first one.

Harrison is grieving a life he had a glimpse of having. He's grieving that he hasn't appreciated how much he wanted a child, and now he knows, he can't cope. He's grieving an ideal life, not the reality of having a baby. He's not yet realised that his grief is making him selfish.

Fallon has been written well so far.

Trust Helen to have smoked salmon sandwiches in the fridge and to be able to ice cakes to perfection. She always sees herself as a cut above the rest. Of course it’s astonishing she wasn’t serving another cheeseboard.

I really can’t understand why Lizzie is suddenly in Joy’s inner circle. The only possible reason is that the actress was on shift this week. Helen is the only person really close enough to Joy to get to the bottom of the Rochelle subplot but she seems to have lost her voice since she came back from Paris.

@Gruffallowhydidntyouknow , you didn't overstep the mark.
The radio soap discussion can get a bit lively.
The Tom description of grief was well handled but I'm not enjoying Harrison's.

I've missed a whole thread and have much to catch up on!!

Trust Helen to have smoked salmon sandwiches in the fridge and to be able to ice cakes to perfection. She always sees herself as a cut above the rest. Of course it’s astonishing she wasn’t serving another cheeseboard.

Good god, can the woman do no right? She could find the cure for cancer and be criticised for it 😉

He's not a real person, so the character would "lose" his wife in terms of the SL, as he would his job. I've no advice for Fallon as she's not real either.

@echt WHAT a thing to say on the Archers thread! Wash your mouth out! 😁

There’s enough of a demographic timebomb without the likes of Helen selfishly making it worse, fgs.

Trust Helen to have smoked salmon sandwiches in the fridge and to be able to ice cakes to perfection.

Arf - I missed that entirely! There's obviously something about the mere mention of Helen that makes me tune out. Also, who has smoked salmon sandwiches in the fridge? As it happens, I have the makings of them in the kitchen - smoked salmon in the fridge, and I have bread, and lemons, and (for those who like it) cream cheese. But not actual sandwiches.

Didn’t Joy and Lizzie connect during the pandemic? I can’t remember exactly. Lizzie realised she was lonely. Then Joy posed for the life art class.

Surely Helen had sandwiches in the fridge because she was hosting a party?

I think Harrison is going to go down the MRA route

What’s the MRA route?

I listened to Friday’s episode 3 times, it was so satisfying to hear Fallon finally putting Ploddypants straight

Men’s rights activism - women have more rights then men and we should go back to a time when women were obliged to have kids blah blah blah

Just checking in to the "new" thread after catching up!

Can anyone remember the reason Joy gave for moving to Ambridge?

I'm wondering whether she moved to Ambridge to be closer to Rochelle (estranged), who got wind of the move and decided to move away...

Edited to add: I think Rochelle has always lived "away" - so would have moved before Joy arrived if my theory is correct...

I completely agree, when my Mum died last year it was a relief. She had been well until 6 weeks before she died and that 6 weeks was awful for her. She was almost 93 and although I was sad to lose her I was relieved and to have pretended otherwise would have been a nonsense.

My mother died at 60 after a long and painful illness. People kept telling me it was “for the best”. No, it wasn’t for the best! The best would have been for her to have recovered.

Grief is a personal thing. No-one is going to hit tge right tone when sympathising with you.

I think it’s interesting that George G was signposted as being the ‘Andrew Tate of Ambridge’ but he has a redemption arc laid out and is sympathetic in a genuine way towards Fallon for example ( I know he caused it all 😬) but it’s HARRISON, nice guy pc plod, who is the really dangerous misogynist.